Nouveaux Points de Vue et Réappropriations
(Repositions and Repossessions)

The Turkish Section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA Turkey) is organizing its first International Workshop and Symposium of Art Criticism and Curatorship in conjunction with the 8th Istanbul Biennial with the support of the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam), the International Bureau of AICA (Paris), the International Foundation Manifesta (Amsterdam), Istanbul Bilgi University and the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts.

The Symposium is conceived as a critical and theoretical contribution to the 8th Istanbul Biennial and the accompanying workshop is designed as a training opportunity for young professionals from the region East of the EU, who are engaged with the practice of art criticism, understood as an activity that ranges from writing about, to curating, exhibitions.

The Symposium, which will take place at Istanbul Bilgi University on 20th September 2003, will focus on defining the current practices in international networking and co-operation, available models and tools for co-production, funding opportunities and curatorial independence, as well as on Istanbul Biennial, a model within the current biennale system and within the cultural infrastructure of the region. The participants in the Symposium will be invited mainly to discuss the issue of “poetic justice” –the main theme of the Biennial– , which is a crucial theme in relation to current political and economic development in the region.

The Workshop will take place on 18th, 19th and 21st September 2003 –the location remains to be determined. It is designed to provide a forum for discussion and the exchange of information for the young participating professionals, who are all actively engaged in the fields of visual art and culture, as critics, curators journalists, TV producers, academics and theoreticians. Priority has been given to participants from Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia Montenegro and Macedonia.

The Workshop sessions will develop the themes of networking, co-curatorship and co-production, in the light of current and future needs for cultural interaction with the EU, and with the EU’s models for cultural networking and inter-related art systems. The Workshop will further address and examine notions of the region, as a shared cultural space with a common historical/traditional background, and as a springboard for the development of a marked cultural, artistic and religious diversity

The one and a half days of theoretical discussions and presentation of practical examples will include a half-day visit to the venues of the Istanbul Biennial, which will serve as a model to the participants. The participants will also attend the official inauguration of the Biennial. The Workshop will end with a Round Table discussion lasting half a day, in which the public will be invited to take part.

For further detailed information, please contact :

AICA TURKEY

Akkavak sok 1/1 80200
Nis¸antas¸-Istanbul-Turkey
Phone : 0090 212 231 10 23 / Fax : 0090 212 247 48 52
Email: [email protected]

These events are organised by

AICA-Turkey
International Bureau of AICA (Paris)
International Manifesta Foundation (IFM)

with the patronage of

European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam)

in collaboration with

Istanbul Bilgi University
Istanbul Culture and Art Foundation

and supported by

ECF, Culture 2000, AICA Greece (in memory of Pierre Restany), AICA, IFM